El detective C.W. Sughrue se lanza en busca de una mujer desaparecida, Sarita Cisneros, esposa mexicana de un político tejano. Ni el FBI, ni su bien conectado marido, ni unos traficantes de cocaína sudamericanos interesados en dar con ella han logrado localizarla. Y en esa búsqueda que se convierte en un enloquecido periplo repleto de sexo y tiros, lo acompañará una andrajosa pandilla de veteranos de la guerra de Vietnam y una hermosa agente encubierta entre otros singulares compañeros de viaje.

The best revenge story ever! ( )

The second book in the series was a long time coming, and after The Last Good Kiss, truly one of the classics of noir, perhaps a letdown was inevitable. On the other hand, that wasn't the case with Chandler or Hammett. This book has a set of characters that would be hard to match, and much of it centers on memories of the Vietnam War, as a band of friends goes to battle again--older, but probably not much wiser. The settings--Montana, Aspen, Texas, Mexico, and places in between--are superb. But the plot is so convoluted and byzantine that is hard to understand even when it is sort of explained at the end. You won't feel like you wasted your time reading this book, but you'll wish the author's plotting could have matched his talent for dialogue and setting. ( )

Awesome fast-moving crime thriller with a sprawling, formless plot but a riveting story full of bad-ass characters with lousy attitudes, hair-trigger tempers, serious substance dependencies and terrifying amounts of firepower. There's also love and heartbreak, tragedy and hollow triumphs, friendship, PTSD and some friendly waterfowl. Crumley's the king. ( )

Pretty complex goings-on here, where the final piece of the puzzle doesn't fall into place until the last few pages. A Vietnam-vet PI enlists some of his buddies from Vietnam days when he takes on a case--and the Vietnam connection turns out to be no casual one.

The "trinity of 20th century power" is described in the book as "cash, drugs, and firepower"--and the story presents plenty of each. A little too much for me personally, but this is certainly a well-crafted tale. ( )